There's something about Ginny Weasley
by Ickle-Ronnikens
Summary: Set during Half-Blood Prince, slightly alternated storyline, Jimmy Peakes admires Ginny Weasley from afar - but he finds himself going from a face in the Gryffindor common room to being a friend - but does it stop there, or does she come to admire him too? - pretty please leave a review if you have time, I don't want to sound needy, but I feed off your feedback! :)
1. Chapter 1

There's something about Ginny Weasley

Summary - Set during Half-Blood Prince, slightly alternated storyline, Jimmy Peakes admires Ginny Weasley from afar - but he finds himself going from a face in the Gryffindor common room to being a friend - but does it stop there, or does she come to admire him too?

Disclaimer - I know it might seem like it, but I can definitely assure you I am NOT J.K Rowling.

Please note: the following story takes place during the Half-Blood Prince, and for it to make sense, certain facts from said book have been altered.

01 - The Chaser

'Seriously though, how pretty is she?'

Jimmy Peakes and his best friend Ritchie Coote stood huddled in a corner of the middle courtyard on the ground floor at Hogwarts, waiting for their Transfiguration class to begin; a girl with waist-length silky red hair, pale skin and freckles had just crossed the same courtyard they stood in, desperately late for her class - which being one year older than them, was most likely Charms or Defence Against the Dark Arts, where the classrooms were on the upper levels.

Ginny Weasley disappeared from view up the flight of stairs that were at the opposite end of the courtyard, but Jimmy continued to stare after her, the image in his head of her face had not left him since they had arrived at Hogwarts several weeks ago, and he had seen her getting off the train, smiling brightly and her hair cascading around her.

'She is good-looking,' Ritchie agreed, he was also staring at the point where Ginny had just been, 'but she's also very popular. What chance do you think you have of dating someone like that?'

'I have no chance,' Jimmy said matter-of-factly, 'she's just come out of a relationship with a boy older than her, why would she waste her time with someone younger? Anyway, I'm sure she's not interested in worrying about boys at the moment, studying OWLs must be stressful enough.'

'She fancies Harry Potter though,' Ritchie pointed out, though of course just about everyone in the school knew that. 'What can a short prick like you offer that the Boy-Who-Lived cannot?'

'First of all, screw you,' Jimmy said through gritted teeth, 'secondly, I may be short, but I'm much more broad in the shoulders and chest then him, can you believe how skinny he is?'

'I can't believe you're ignorant enough to worry about what he looks like,' Ritchie said seriously, as he began to absent-mindedly fiddle around in his pockets, 'he's Harry Potter!'

'I know,' Jimmy sighed as Ritchie finally found the Chocolate Frog he had put in his robe pocket yesterday.

'Want some?' he offered to Jimmy, who rolled his eyes.

'No thank you,' he said, turning to look back towards where Ginny had gone, 'those things are going to kill you, I swear.'

'Peakes! Coote!' came a whipping voice through the air.

'Oh no,' they both started, and looked around to see Professor McGonagall standing at the door of the Transfiguration classroom, indicating for them to hurry up.

'Coming Professor!'

They both grabbed their bags and hurried to the classroom.

* * *

A few weeks later, Jimmy and Ritchie were sat by the small circular windows cramped in the corner of the Gryffindor common room, both were attempting to finish their Charms homework due on Monday, both were failing at it miserably.

'I hate this,' Ritchie said furiously, slamming his charms book shut, '"_Explain the Summoning Charm in more detail." _How much more can you explain it, other than "the item on the other side of the room flies over to you"?'

'I don't know.'

Ritchie looked up.

Jimmy, who had done very little homework already that evening, had yet again turned to stare at Ginny on the other side of the room. She was sat in her own little corner doing her own homework, crossed-legged on the floor with her Pygmy Puff bouncing on her shoulder and a spare sugar quill in her mouth.

A smile appeared across Ritchie's face as he leaned forward and said into Jimmy's ear, 'why don't you try and summon her? You could just say you were practicing, hoping to summon something sweet.'

'You can't summon people, Ritchie,' Jimmy said in anger, turning back to his homework, 'and anyway, I'm so bad I couldn't even summon her quill if I wanted too.'

'It just takes practice,' Ritchie explained, who had done it pretty much straight away and had been summoning random pieces of rubbish - which usually littered the common room - all night. 'Would you like me to summon the sugar quill she's sucking on?'

'No!' Jimmy hissed, as Ritchie raised his wand.

Ritchie chuckled and shook his head, putting his wand away and picking his quill back up.

'What are you worried about anyway?' he asked, as Jimmy turned yet again to get a glimpse of the redhead, 'she's sitting on her own, well away from Potter - and her brother for that matter - ask her out.'

'She barely knows me,' Jimmy said longingly.

'True,' Ritchie agreed, 'maybe after tomorrow then, once we've made the Quidditch team. Though if this weather keeps up, we might be getting more than just bludgers to the face.'

They both paused to look out the small window they sat by - several hours ago, they had been able to see the lake quite clearly, and the skies had been a mixture of colours as the sun had set. Now there was only jet blankness, thick rain had been hammering against if for quite a while now and if you listened closely, you could hear wind whipping through the rain.

'It isn't helping my nerves,' said Jimmy sternly, once again turning to face his homework, 'and this is not going to get done tonight, maybe I'll leave it for Sunday if I feel any better.'

Jimmy put everything away into his bag and stood up. 'Night then.'

'Night,' Ritchie nodded, determined to stay put and finish his homework tonight.

Jimmy crossed the room to the boys staircase, and as he did, he glanced one last time in Ginny's direction - but at that exact moment, she happened to look up from her homework too, and caught his gaze. She half-smiled at him, the sugar quill was still between her teeth - Jimmy attempted to be casual, gave her a half-smile back before quickly (but not too quickly) looking away and disappearing up the staircase.

When he got to his dormitory, he closed the door behind him and leaned against it and closed his eyes - his heart was pounding, his mind racing and the image of Ginny's smiling face pierced through the blackness.

* * *

'I don't think I can wait until Thursday.'

It was currently Sunday - yesterday's Quidditch try outs had been a success, both Ritchie and Jimmy had obviously made the team as Beaters, and they were half-celebrating, half-relaxing down by the edge of the lake with the warm sun out. Jimmy was pacing the edge of the water, whilst Ritchie sat on a low rock to the side, his feet dangling into the cool water, and he was reading _the Standard book of Spells: Grade Four_.

After tryouts, Harry had told them all that first practice session would be that very Thursday, and Jimmy was in high spirits about it.

'I still can barely believe we managed to do so well,' Jimmy was saying, still pacing, 'with _her_ watching me and everything.'

'Yeah, yeah, you did fine,' Ritchie said encouragingly, not looking up from his book.

'We both did,' Jimmy pointed out, finally coming to a halt next to his friend, 'but why are you not more excited about this?'

Ritchie shrugged and finally looked up from his book.

'I am,' he said casually, 'I just hide it better than you do.'

'Well clearly,' Jimmy threw his arms in the air and continued pacing.

'You should be doing your homework,' Ritchie said sternly.

'You're starting to sound like my mother,' Jimmy retorted and Ritchie laughed.

'Fair enough, I'll stop,' and he returned to his book.

They fell into silence once more, Jimmy only stopped pacing momentarily to watch the Giant Squid do some sort of pirouette in the shallow waters nearby. He had given up on ever getting his homework done, his mind was far too full of Quidditch and Ginny for him to think clearly, and his solution had been to pace the edge of the lake all day while Ritchie had joined him.

'Hey Ritchie,' Jimmy said suddenly through the silence.

'Hey what?' Ritchie replied.

'Put your book down one moment,' Jimmy demanded, making his friend look up at him reproachfully. 'I need your full attention for this.'

Ritchie bookmarked his place then closed the book and put it aside.

'Now I need to ask for your opinion,' Jimmy had stopped pacing by now, and was looking pretty serious. 'I need you to tell me if this sounds creepy-'

'Yes it does,' Ritchie said firmly, picking his book back up again.

'Be serious,' Jimmy demanded.

'I am being serious,' he said, hiding behind his book again, 'because I have no doubt that whatever it is... as long as you say it, it'll sound creepy.'

'We're on the Gryffindor Quidditch team now,' Jimmy said, as if telling him for the first time, 'and as a member of said team, we share a locker room with our team mates-'

'Here we go,' Ritchie rolled his eyes.

'If another team member is getting undressed,' Jimmy said, biting his lip, 'is it wrong to stare? Or is there a policy somewhere that states we have to look away-?'

'I'm pretty certain there are walls in the locker rooms,' Ritchie informed him, 'though I've not been down there. I would certainly hope they put some sort of barrier between you and the poor girl while she's getting undressed.'

Jimmy's smile widened as he stared at his friend.

'You're picturing it too,' he said happily, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

'You're sick,' Ritchie returned to his book whilst Jimmy roared with laughter.

'Oh my dear friend,' Jimmy managed to say through the laughter, 'there's nothing ill about it, it's perfectly normal for us boys to picture such a pretty lady with very little or no clothes on. It's what we do!'

Ritchie made no motion to retort these words, instead continued to read his book.

'For her sake, let's hope there are walls,' Jimmy agreed several minutes later, 'but if there aren't any, you can bet your entire Chocolate Frog card collection that I'm going to be watching her out of the corner of my eye!'


	2. The Poker Face

02 - The Poker Face

Four days and one detention later, Jimmy was descending the immaculate lawns of Hogwarts with a wide smile across his face and his Nimbus Two-Thousand over his shoulder without a worry in the world. Over his other shoulder, his friend Ritchie followed with his less expensive Cleensweep under his arm pit - together they breathed in the cool, calm air - it was great conditions for flying, no wind, no rain, visibility was high and there was no doubt it would be the perfect start to their year.

Jimmy had insisted they get to the locker rooms early and change, he might have said his reason was to look keen and professional, but Ritchie knew his intensions lay elsewhere. And sure enough, as the rest of the team began to arrive well after they had, Jimmy sat up more pronounced when he saw Ginny, and he gave her the most eager "hello" than he had the rest of them.

But it was very subtle of him - only Ritchie, who knew how Jimmy felt about Ginny and how he had acted thus far, spotted the difference in him.

'Look Ritchie,' Jimmy hissed under his breath as Ginny, Demelza Robbins and Katie Bell all lined up at the lockers opposite them. 'No walls.'

Christmas had come early for Jimmy.

It did indeed seem like the common courtesy clause was in effect, and that they were expected to look away out of respect. But at no time was there ever anything said or done about privacy, and all three of them changed into their Quidditch robes without hesitation, Jimmy watching out of the corner of his eye the whole time.

Though there had been a brief moment, when Ginny had finally sat down in her full gear - with her face a little more pink than usual - she had pushed a strain of hair behind her ear and given Jimmy a certain look, almost as if to say "I know you watched". But whether he was just imagining it or not, Jimmy didn't have time to ponder very long, Harry Potter arrived and instantly captured everyone's immediate attention.

'Alright, folks,' Harry said, as his best friend Ron and keeper came slouching past him and sat the other side of Jimmy and Ritchie, 'conditions are perfect for our first hit out, no need for any instructions this evening, let's just find out how we all work as a team.'

Everyone started nodding and chattering at their approval of this, but Harry grabbed their attention once again by waving his arms.

'Katie, Ginny, Demelza - you three worked really well together in tryouts,' Harry continued, 'after a few weeks of practice, you'll be an unrelenting force. Try not to completely embarrass Ron though, please-'

Everyone but Harry and Ron laughed.

'No, seriously,' Harry went on, 'he needs all the confidence he can get. Jim, Ritchie, I want you two to get the full workout in practice too, but I don't want any injuries - so practice aiming, rather than power, you can go all out once we play Slytherin.'

'Right you are, Captain,' said Jimmy with real enthusiasm, standing up and saluting him.

Everyone laughed again, and Jimmy looked around expectantly to see even Ginny smiling at his antics.

'That's the enthusiasm I've come to love and expect from the Gryffindor Beaters,' Harry said pointedly, 'come on, let's go!'

And they all poured out of the locker room to begin training.

* * *

'I've seen Ginny Weasley in her underwear!'

'A little louder mate. I don't think London quite heard you.'

It was late, very late. Quidditch practice was over hours ago, yet Jimmy and Ritchie had somehow been unable thus far to tear themselves away from the middle of the pitch, where they now lay next to each other, staring up into the abyss. Their only source of light was from the castle up the hill, which lit up only a quarter of the pitch, and so they were pretty much invisible to anyone that might happen to look out the window towards them.

Their blood was still pumping from the excellent session of Quidditch they had had, and despite the fact they knew that they would be paying for it in the morning, they stay laying there, discussing potential tactics for the first game of the year which was approaching fast, and would be against Slytherin. But most of Jimmy's input had been about the fact that he had seen Ginny undress in front of him, and that nothing, not even another detention, could possibly spoil his mood.

But Ritchie was beginning to grow tired of his interjections at this point and suggested that they should really be making their way back to the castle.

'You don't seem to have grasped the magnitude of the occasion, have you Rich?' Jimmy said pointedly, he had been unable to take the grin off his face for a few hours now.

'So you saw her getting change, so what?' Ritchie really didn't see what the big deal was.

'So what?' Jimmy said frustratingly, 'this is the holy grail, mate! Sharing a locker room with the girl of my dreams-'

'You didn't even know she existed a month ago,' Ritchie pointed out quietly.

'Yeah, well, what a month,' Jimmy breathed out deeply, 'did you see the way she looked at me?'

Ritchie didn't answer, he had started fiddling again with the Chocolate Frog card he had found in the pocket of his spare pants he'd put on after training.

'Did you know Merlin was in Slytherin?' Ritchie asked, referring to the card in his hand.

'Yes, you've told me like a thousand times,' Jimmy spat back, lying back down against the cool grass and staring up into the sky.

'I can't stop seeing that smile,' Jimmy went on, putting his hands up behind his head, 'it was right after she played with a little strand of her hair, too, maybe that's one of her tell-tales? I should look out for it-'

'She was probably just realising how much of a creep you are,' Ritchie pointed out to him, 'with you staring at her and everything, I'm surprised she didn't hex you.'

Jimmy wasn't really listening.

'Tuesday feels like ages away from now,' he said, talking about their next training session.

'You should be more careful about how much you stare at this girl,' Ritchie said, finally grasping Jimmy's attention, 'it's quite unlikely that she shares the same feelings you have for her-'

'But she might?' Jimmy debated.

'But more likely not, don't you think?' Ritchie retorted.

Jimmy contemplated this for a moment. 'You never know,' he shrugged.

'And remember she's a Weasley,' Ritchie went on, 'they have quite the reputation of being feisty characters and can be intimidating if they need to be - so you don't want to be giving her reasons to hex you.'

'I might like feisty,' Jimmy said with a smirk that Ritchie did not see.

'Would you like a trip to the Hospital wing as well?' Ritchie asked him seriously, 'because that's what happened to Draco Malfoy last year when he tried to cross her, do you remember?'

Jimmy swallowed nervously. 'That's different though,' he pointed out, 'I'm not Malfoy, and I'm definitely not trying to cross her-'

'I think staring at her whilst she takes her clothes off is theoretically the same thing,' Ritchie explained, 'whether you're in the same room as her or not, the difference is you're trying to look when you should be trying not to.'

'OK I get your point,' Jimmy snapped after finally having enough. 'I'm going to agree that I shouldn't be staring at her, that I shouldn't be goggling after her, that nothing is going to ever happen between us-'

'I never said-' Ritchie started to say, but Jimmy put a hand up.

'But it's not going to stop me from liking her, alright?'

They both fell silent at the sudden tension between them. Jimmy could feel his anger flowing out of him and Ritchie could sense it - usually if things became this unstable between them, they would resort back to talking about Quidditch and return the peace.

'Besides,' Jimmy said finally as Ritchie looked around at him. 'She wouldn't date a worthless Beater like me anyway-'

'You're not worthless.'

Jimmy didn't really want to reply - he picked up his broomstick and put it over her shoulder and began to trudge back to the castle, with Ritchie stumbling in his wake. He tried not to engage in conversation again - he hated acknowledging it when it happened, but his friend was right - counting the hours until he got to see Ginny in her underwear again sounded much worse out-loud that it had in his head - and anyway, amidst all of his staring and admiring, he had forgotten about the fact that there might be consequences for his actions.

Could the same be in store for him, as there had been for Malfoy, if he kept staring at her? Offering no explanation as to why he was doing it? He wondered what he might do if it ever came to that, whether he had the ability in him to tell her how he felt, or whether he'd simply just roll over like a spider with no legs and allow her to hex him.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Jimmy tried his hardest to put the young redhead out of his mind - he would focus instead on his growing pile of homework during the evenings in the Gryffindor common room, and he would keep both eyes on the Bludger during training, instead of one eye on Ginny as well. Though he managed not to stare at her too much, he could not stop looking at her completely, she was far too pretty - and other than for perhaps a handful of times, he had taken to pointedly look away when the girls arrived for practice on Tuesday's and Thursday's.

Though in his infinite wisdom, he dared to wonder if his sudden disinterest in watching them change out of their clothes would only heighten the chance that Ginny would become suspicious of him.

Ritchie though was quite satisfied that their conversations were no longer consisted up of the day in the life of Ginny Weasley - instead they returned to their former glorious conversations about such things as the abnormality of Professor Snape's nose and racing broom prices in Which Broomstick?

Though he felt a little responsibly for Jimmy's sudden detachment from her, he felt as if heartbreak would have been on the horizon for him anyway; the first Hogsmeade weekend was approaching fast and speculative rumours were going around that Harry Potter was plucking up the courage to ask Ginny to go with him.

All speculative of course, and when Pansy Parkinson was involved, such rumours weren't to be trusted. But it definitely made sense, Harry and Ginny had been seen in heavy proximity of one another in all parts of the castle recently - most likely they were discussing Quidditch tactics, but Ritchie could not help feel as though there was more going on behind the scenes than not.

He did not share these thoughts with Jimmy, instead they spent their time talking about strategies of their own, taking to stalking Slytherin Chasers in the hallways now instead of Gryffindor ones - they would discuss their body shape, their weak points, and how many bludger hits it would take to immobilise them. This sort of dedication even got to the point where Jimmy did not even notice Ginny go pass them one day, as he was so busy studying a Slytherin going in the other direction.

Though curiously, Ginny noticed them and she half-smiled at them for their dedication in learning about the opposition before she continued on her way.


	3. Looks Can Be Deceiving

03 - Looks Can Be Deceiving

The first Hogsmeade visit was in the middle of October, on a stormy Saturday and the heavens appeared to be in an unforgiving mood - when Jimmy and Ritchie walked into the Great Hall for breakfast in the morning, the ceiling (which was enchanted to look like the sky outside) was very dark and the Hall was lit mostly by the candles that lined the walls. When they got out of the castle, it was even darker and it was a very unpleasant journey down the slopes of Hogwarts towards the village below.

Jimmy and Ritchie huddled as close to one another as possible, walking sideways more than forwards through the rapidly growing mounds of sleet, the first snow fall of the year and possibly the most aggressive. But the weather wasn't to blame completely for their foul moods, Hogsmeade village was a shadow of its former self unfortunately, more shops than not had been bordered up and closed due to the growing danger of the outside world.

Even the very popular Zonko's Joke Shop - which both Jimmy and Ritchie had enjoyed immensely last year - and it meant that they were due for a far less enjoyable day than they had planned indeed.

Ritchie had hoped there would be enough things to do and places to go during their trip in order for Jimmy to forget Ginny Weasley. Unbeknown to his best mate, he secretly prayed that if she was at Hogsmeade, that she would be on a date with Harry Potter, and that they would spend all their time at Madam Puddifoot's - the small teashop that was usually occupied by couples - and not bother to show up in the undoubtedly crowded pub the Three Broomsticks.

They made their way towards Honeydukes first, thankfully it was one of the shops not boarded up - but unfortunately due to the limited amount of places you could go, it meant the famous lolly shop was so overflowing with students that it looked impossible to move your elbows, let alone browse and purchase items.

They decided then to make a small detour into the a shop opposite instead - called Gladrag's Wizardwear, which had only a handful of students purchasing new robes to replace old or torn ones - to pass the time.

'I could always do with some new socks,' Jimmy said with a shrug, picking at some pairs that were quite a horrid colour indeed.

They literally walked around in circles within the shop, peering out the window every second lap, waiting for the crowd within Honeydukes to thin. Ritchie actually bought a new pair of socks that looked fairly normal, and Jimmy succumbed to buying a beanie that didn't fit while they waited - eventually becoming concerned that the products they wanted could be sold out before they got there, the two of them trudged back over to Honeydukes and squeezed their way in.

They slowly moved through the crowded room, somehow Ritchie finally came face-to-face with the wall of candy at the other side. He grabbed a basket and began filling it with Chocolate Frogs, before Jimmy reappeared at his shoulder.

'Hey, you remember that cute blonde girl I pointed out to you at breakfast this morning? She totally just had her entire hand on my left butt cheek,' Jimmy hissed in Ritchie's ear, 'does she think I wouldn't notice or what?'

'You really have a problem,' Ritchie hissed, now counting his money to make sure he had enough for the Chocolate Frog's.

'Look who's talking,' Jimmy retorted, indicating the basket which was overflowing, 'I keep telling you, you're never going to find someone who has that Cornelius Agrippa card, let alone find one in a pack-'

'It could happen,' Ritchie was hopeful, and while he knew spending most of his money on Chocolate Frogs was quite a waste, he still went through with it anyway.

This meant that he watched on jealously as Jimmy browsed an assortment of lollies and chocolate, choosing at will what he found particularly inviting, and even having the tenacity to ask Ritchie for help in choosing either chocolate flavoured or strawberry flavoured Drooble's Blowing Gum. Eventually having tortured Ritchie enough, Jimmy made his purchases and lead the way out of the shop.

'To the Three Broomsticks then?' Jimmy practically yelled through the white wind whilst he pointed in the general direction of where he thought the pub was.

Ritchie agreed, though visibility was so poor, they weren't exactly sure the way they were going was the right way - forward movement was still slow and rather all over the place, and they took to following other students with their heads bowed against the wind, simply praying that they were headed in the same direction as them. When they eventually managed to find the correct door to their destination, they scrambled through it, bending over on the threshold, absolutely exhausted.

The Three Broomsticks was warm, and smelled strongly of Butterbeer - it took both Jimmy and Ritchie to a few moments to regain their senses, the room was spinning for them, and it didn't help that they had to do a couple of laps of the crowded pub until they found a spare table at the back somewhere.

'My shout then?' Jimmy said in amusement, knowing well and good that he'd just watch Ritchie (who sat down miserably) spend all of his Galleons on Chocolate.

He returned shortly with two large mugs of Butterbeer and he handed one to his friend. They both took a sip in earnest at the same time, and instantly they could feel the warmth returning to their bodies - slowly everything in the room made sense, they began to feel like themselves again, as if their souls had been sucked out centuries ago and finally put back in again.

'Guess who I saw up the front, ordering two drinks?' Jimmy asked his friend curiously after a pause of letting this feeling settle in.

'Oh no-' Ritchie said under his breath, feeling his stomach drop.

He had been afraid of this - encountering her could be the trigger for him to start talking about her again, for him to spend the next month, day in and day out until Christmas listing nothing but the measurements of her bust, waist and hips.

'It was Harry,' Jimmy said, looking puzzled at Ritchie's reaction, 'Harry Potter - and he wasn't sitting with his two friends, he was sitting with-'

_Here it comes,_ Ritchie thought miserably.

'-Loony-Lovegood!' Jimmy let out a evil cry of laughter which attracted the attention of some scared looking Hufflepuff's nearby.

'Loony- really?' Ritchie was suddenly very intrigued.

'No doubt about it,' Jimmy said with a nod of his head, 'she ordered a Gillywater and everything.'

'Harry Potter and Loony-Lovegood,' Ritchie repeated, barely able to believe what he was saying, 'but that means-'

'Peeves will have a field day with that one,' Jimmy pointed out, making Ritchie roar with laughter.

Now in much better spirits, the both forgot about Harry and Luna and even Ginny and went on to talk about Quidditch, as the two young Wizards normally did in each other's company. One thing was for sure, as best mates they knew each other well, if conversation ever went pear-shaped, they could always fall back onto Quidditch, whether it be of Hogwarts standard or International standard.

Over the next half-hour or so, they had each consumed one and a half mugs of Butterbeer, whilst Ritchie had absent-mindedly been opening Chocolate Frog cards, searching for the very one that continued to eluded him. Their laughter carried throughout the pub, only Professor Slughorn a couple of tables over out bellowed them - he appeared to have found a drinking partner in the form of Rubeus Hagrid and they both looked rather drunk, as it wasn't just Butterbeer they were drinking.

Jimmy was about to suggest that he go and buy them another Butterbeer each, when a distraction in the form of Ginny Weasley appeared, curiously attracted to their laughter which had grown louder and louder as they discussed possible ways for the Chudley Cannons to finish ninth again this season.

'Hello boys,' she said, appearing from nowhere at Jimmy's shoulder and forcing him to stop mid-laugh and do a double-take.

A sudden swooshing sensation filled in his stomach, as though he missed a step going downstairs.

'Hi,' was all Jimmy managed to squeak out of the side of his mouth.

'What's so funny over here then?' she demanded to know with a wry smile, looking between them, the several empty Butterbeer mugs on the table and the pile of opened and unopened Chocolate Frog cards scattered around it.

'Hi Ginny,' Ritchie said finally, giving Jimmy a stern look, 'we're just talking Quidditch.'

'Oh,' she seemed disheartened, as if hopeful that it would be something much more mouth watering, 'mind if I join the conversation with you guys?'

'But, to what do we owe such a pleasure?' Jimmy asked, finally speaking properly.

'No particular reason,' Ginny said calmly, sitting down in the spare seat, 'does a girl need a reason to sit and relax with a couple of her team mates?'

'Absolutely not,' Jimmy announced to the world, holding a finger up as if to make a statement, before nervously draining the rest of his Butterbeer.

'Good.'

There was a pause, where the three sat in an awkward silence. Ritchie thought perhaps they should resume their discussions on Quidditch, as that usually cured it, but Jimmy - who was not very good with awkward silences - bounced to his feet before he could say anything and pointed to the two of them in turn.

'Butterbeer? Butterbeer?'

'Yes please,' Ginny nodded, Ritchie nodded also.

'Three Butterbeers,' Jimmy yelled over some heads, as if Madam Rosmerta was waiting for his order.

He turned away, and Ginny giggled a little - Ritchie thought at first it was a false laugh, and when she turned back to face him, her smile stayed, but she was definitely thinking about something else and Ritchie knew he had to say something.

'Are you really here because we're team mates?,' he asked, 'or - and you can be honest here - or are you actually just sitting with us because Harry's sitting over there with Luna, and we're the last resort?'

Ginny sighed.

'Am I that obvious?' she yielded, slouching in her seat and propping her elbow up on the table and putting her head in her hand.

'No, I guessed,' Ritchie lied with a shrug, though Ginny appreciated it all the same with a smile.

'I tried to sit with Ron and Hermione,' she tried to explain, 'but they bicker far too much, so I followed the laughter-'

'And what of Demelza Robbins?' Ritchie asked curiously, 'you two are friends aren't you-?'

'Busy also,' Ginny indicated over her shoulder with her thumb to where the young Chaser was mouth-to-mouth with some random boy Ritchie did not recognise.

'I see,' Ritchie nodded his head and paused, waiting for something to be said, before deciding he may as well ask her.

'I hope you don't mind me asking,' he said cautiously, 'but, from the past couple of weeks, the amount of times I saw you and Harry together in the corridors, well I naturally presumed that...'

Ritchie trailed away, unsure where to go from there, he didn't want to be the one to say it.

'He mostly talked about Luna, actually,' Ginny explained, 'asked me if I would mind if he asked her out, wasn't quite sure why he needed my permission, but I told him to go for it. And then I proceeded to give him every bit of knowledge I have on her to help.'

'Well,' Ritchie tried to find the positive, 'it shows that he values your opinion highly, even if he is thick enough not to notice someone like you right in front of him.'

'It's sweet of you to say that, but,' Ginny shrugged, 'I don't hate him for it, and I don't need to hear that he's thick or anything - I'm happy for them, really. Luna deserves to be lucky for once, I will just have to find someone else one day, amongst this lot...'

Just as she finished that sentence, Jimmy reappeared with immaculate timing, a giant smile etched across his face as he handed them both a Butterbeer.

'Took your sweet time,' Ritchie snapped, taking his drink and sipping it too.

'Hey, I did my best... I might have stopped to tell a joke alright-?' Jimmy snapped back.

Ritchie stared at him in disbelief.

'Not the one about the hag, the Healer and the _Mimbulus mimbletonia_?' Ritchie pleaded, but the look on Jimmy's face told it all.

'Madam Rosmerta appreciated it at least,' Jimmy said, bringing his drink to his lips, 'even if you don't.'

And as he took a drink, and Ritchie put his head in his hands, Ginny looked from one to the other and asked, 'wait, what's joke?'

'Trust me Ginny, you don't want to know,' Ritchie insisted, ignoring Jimmy, 'but on to more pressing matters, where do you believe the Chudley Cannons will finish this year? Ninth again do you think?'


End file.
